Meaning & use
morality
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Meanings
noununcountable
A set of beliefs or standards about what is right and wrong that guides how people behave.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: a question of morality.
Patterns
- the morality of something
- a question of morality
The debate focused on the morality of capital punishment.
Her sense of morality came from her family.
Some argue that morality cannot be taught.
noununcountable
How right or wrong a particular action or decision is judged to be.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the morality of the war.
Patterns
- question the morality of something
People questioned the morality of the company's pricing.
The judge considered the morality of the choice.
They argued over the morality of testing on animals.
nouncountable
A particular system of principles belonging to a group, religion or culture.
Grammar: Used with a possessive or adjective: Christian morality.
Each culture has its own morality.
Traditional morality frowned on gambling.
The film contrasts Victorian morality with modern attitudes.
Word forms
| plural | moralities |
|---|
Common combinations
- question of morality
- For him, honesty was a question of morality.
- public morality
- Laws sometimes try to protect public morality.
- personal morality
- Personal morality can differ from the law.
- sexual morality
- Attitudes to sexual morality change over time.
- conventional morality
- He rejected conventional morality.
- the morality of something
- They debated the morality of the new law.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ethics
- It is often used for formal codes or the study of right and wrong, while morality is a personal or cultural sense.
- principles
- It points to specific rules a person follows, while morality is the broader system.
- virtue
- It is one good quality, while morality is the whole framework.
- decency
- It means behaving in a respectful, honourable way, and is less philosophical.
Opposites
Word family
- moral adjective
- concerned with right and wrong
- moralist noun
- a person who lectures others about right and wrong
- moralize verb
- to talk about right and wrong in a preachy way
- immorality noun
- behaviour that is wrong
- amoral adjective
- not caring about right and wrong
Commonly confused: morality or morale?
morality vs morale
Morale is the confidence and spirit of a group, as in team morale. Morality is about right and wrong.
Practice
The team's ______ was low after three straight defeats. Which word is wrong here?
Choose one answer.
Morality is about right and wrong, so it does not describe a team's mood. Morale, spirit and confidence all fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “morality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.